Memorial service scheduled for former ASU student killed in Afghanistan

A memorial service for 1st Lt. Jonam Russell who was killed in Afghanistan Tuesday will be Friday on the Arizona State University Tempe Campus.

Russell, an ASU graduate and a Reserve Officer Training Corps. alumn, was killed by an improvised explosive device along with two other soldiers on July 23 south of Kabul in Soltan Kheyl, Afghanistan, according to the Department of Defense.

ASU is holding the memorial ceremony Friday at 10 a.m. in old Main on the Tempe campus. The ceremony will also be aired live on YouTube and the link will be available on the ROTC Facebook page, said Joshua D. Grzywa, of ASU’s Military Science Department.

Russell, of Cornville but originally from Canada, graduated cum laude from ASU’s W.P Carey School of Business in May of 2011. He became an infantry officer for the Army after graduation, said Grzywa said.

“He was the best person, always in good spirits, he had a good level of morale, just fun,” said 2nd Lt. Lane Laswell, who met Russell at ASU as part of the ROTC program.

Laswell who graduated from ASU this year, said Russell looked after him when he first enrolled in the school and they were together almost daily. He spoke with Russell a few weeks ago about Russell’s time during active duty.

“There won’t be a day that goes by that I won’t think of him, always keep him in my prayers, and his family, for sure,” Laswell said.

Second Lt. Chad Richman, who also graduted this year, said Russell was his squad leader when he joined ROTC and taught him all of the basics he needed to be a soldier. Richman was at work when he heard of Russell’s death and said he was a mess.

“It was a little sobering, because it bring in the realities,” said Richman, who will be deployed in November. “But at the same time it hardened my resolve. I knew that this was something I wanted to do, and something I wanted to do in his honor.”

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